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FBI: Sony Hack Would Have Penetrated "90 Percent" of Companies

An FBI official told the Senate that even state governments would have had trouble stopping the cyberattack

An FBI official told a Senate committee on Wednesday that very few companies would have been able to defend against the Nov. 24 hack on Sony Pictures Entertainment's systems.

"[T]he malware that was used would have gotten past 90 percent of the Net defenses that are out there today in private industry and [would have been] likely to challenge even state government," assistant director of the FBI's cyber division Joe Demarest said, according to CNET.

Demarest added that the FBI has yet to determine who is responsible for the attack. The hacking group Guardians of Peace has taken credit for the attack, which has led to numerous leaked Sony documents and emails.

Demarest's comments mirror what Kevin Mandia, head of the cybersecurity firm investigating the attack, recently told Sony execs. Mandia called the breach "unprecedented in nature" and "carried out by an organized group."

Guardians of Peace has asked Sony to pull its upcoming comedy The Interview, in which Seth Rogen and James Franco play two guys sent to North Korea to assassinate Kim Jong Un. The film premieres Thursday in Los Angeles.